Sparkle Sunrise

Chapter One

The time is a morning with a sun rising with a sparkle of fluorescent red. Two men had just finished burning a body.

"Alright," said one of the men who was the older of the two. "Once the body turns to ashes, just spread across the dirt. No one would be able to tell."

"Thanks, Olivier!" said the other man who was the younger of the two.

The young man quickly apologizes. "Sorry! I haven't done this before."

The older man scoffs. "Just don't mess up again!"

Both men return to their respective life after this.

Welcome to the next saga in the adventure of Stella Lily Aron and her childhood friend Harold Vernon. It has been a year since their last adventure. In their previous adventure, Stella's self-portrait was stolen, so she requested Harold to help find the thief or thieves. Harold's two family members also joined. They were his younger sister named Lyla and his paternal cousin named Bruno. Since then, Harold had joined the police force and Stella had just finished her first year of college studying astrology.

Stella stands at five feet seven inches and wears a saffron top, white mini skirt, and light brown boots. She has saffron-colored eyes and long light blonde hair. Right now, she and her mom Cecilia are enjoying a vacation at a town called Pomme Town. She is now 19 years old.

Cecilia has dark blonde hair and saffron-colored eyes. Her height is five feet seven inches. The outfit consists of a white minidress and white heels. Her age is 40 years old.

Pomme Town is a quiet town full of red apple trees. It is divided into several districts which include a residential district and commercial district. At the center of town is a square which contains the largest apple tree in town. Throughout the town are several different cafes.

Stella and Cecilia are drinking soda and coffee respectively when Cecilia sees someone familiar to her across the street.

"Hey, dear?" Cecilia said to Stella to get her attention.

"Yeah, Mom?" Stella replied.

Cecilia nods towards the other side of the street. "Isn't that Harold?"

Stella squints and sees a young man wearing a green T-shirt, blue jeans, and converse shoes.

"I'll check!" Cecilia said and stood up to go to the young man. "Harold?"

The young man turns around and is surprised when he sees Cecilia. "Cecilia? What are you doing here?"

Cecilia smiles. "Come! Lily and I are at that cafe over there." She leads him back to the cafe.

"Harold?!" Stella smiled, stood up and hugged him. "What are you doing here?"

Harold smiles back. "I was going to ask you guys the same thing."

"Mom and I are on vacation. I want another self-portrait since I'm a year older now. Hihi!"

"Yes," Cecilia said. "The artist Lucius wants seven specific shades of colors to start the painting. We're traveling around this Astro Orb to get the paints for him."

"Lucius?" Harold asked. "Was he the one who did your previous self-portrait?"

"Yep! He's very good. Anyways, why are you here, Harold?" Stella asked.

"You know the journalist who went missing after investigating an unknown group?"

Stella shakes her head. "No, I don't really pay attention to things like that."

"I heard something," Cecilia said. "But I don't know many details."

"Well," Harold said. "My partner and I were assigned to this case. To find the journalist. We don't know whether he's dead or alive."

"Do you have the name of the journalist?" Cecilia asked

Harold shakes his head. "No, you know, I got into the police force based on your recommendation. Because of this, some of the other officers don't think that I'm qualified to be with them. So, I think my partner and I were given this case to fail so they have a reason to let us go."

"Oh, no!" Stella said. "That's not fair! You were the best of your class."

"I'm sure you can prove them wrong." Cecilia said. "What's wrong with your partner? Is there a reason why they don't like him? Is his name Edgar?"

Harold nods. "Yes, Edgar's my partner. I don't know why they don't like him. I think it's because he's associated with me. Well, I did beat up anyone who tried to bully him."

Cecilia frowns. "Really? Why haven't they fired you from that?"

Harold shrugs. "I was in my Wolf form. They don't have proof that it was me. They stopped bullying after realizing that anyone who bullies him always gets beat up after work. Well, it was nice seeing you two. I gotta go now. Edgar's waiting for me."

With that said, Harold goes back across the street and finds partner Edgar in an alleyway leaning against a wall.

Enter Edgar who is five feet eight inches, combed black hair and blue eyes. He wears a buttoned a white-collared shirt with a red tie and black dress pants. His age is 19 years, one year younger than Harold.

"Oh, you're back," Edgar said to Harold and turned back to continue looking at a house across the street. "Where were you?"

"I ran into my friend and her mom." Harold said. "I'll introduce you guys later." He nods towards the house that Edgar is looking at. "That's the house there? Has anyone been in and out yet?"

Edgar nods. "Yeah, it was Vincent. The one that our supervisor told us about."

"Alright, then! Let's go inside and question him."

With that said, Harold and Edgar proceed to go across the street.

Meanwhile, in an unknown building, Olivier, who is the older of two men from the intro, walks up to someone sitting at a desk.

"Well?" asked the man sitting at the desk.

"The body was burned to ashes. There won't be any evidence against us." Olivier answered.

"Good! Back to business as usual. Just keep an eye on Soleil to make sure he doesn't get into trouble."

"I'll have Hilaire keep a watch on him." Olivier said and left the building.